Ls question

Whats the lightest, cheapest rectangular port ls available on the used market? I'm newish to the newer ls motors (know a bit about old iron truck motors). Boosted application if that helps. 
 

thanks!

I know it seems kind of a strange question. I'm building a turbo ls 89 toyota hilux 4x4 so I dont really need to maximize power production (the chassis will certainly be the limiting factor in the powertrain build), so it doesn't really matter how much power the block/etc. can handle. I'm shooting for light weight so aluminum block is a must, and trying hard to do little things to save weight and move things that can't be deleted or minimized to the rear (radiators, etc.). For no reason aside from the fact that I think it looks awesome, I want to run this intake manifold protruding through the fiberwerx hood: https://www.performancedesign.com/product-page/carbon-ptr

thus the rec port heads. The truck will be so overpowered that how low end is effected matters little (some loss of low end might even improve this rig lol). But I dont think that intake will be too bad down low due to the longish runner/high volume pleneum. 

Ive been mocking things up with an lm7 that I got from someone on here that turned out not to be salvageable (rust in cyl bores is severe). The truck should weigh 26xx lbs and have 12-13" of travel all around with the king Motorsports coilovers. Shooting for 600-650 whp. Using a toyota r series manual trans and transfer case. Have the adapter already. Really excited about this build! Was my first rig (been in the fam since 88, bought it from my old man in 95) , so it's more than just a truck to me. 

that aint gonna hone. :-/

just think that's super hot lookin. Stickin out the hood all shaker with cammy turbo ls noises.. mmmmmm. 

LY6 Iron block 6.0 is probably the cheapest option.

L92/L94 out of a Yukon Denali or Escalade is probably the easiest to find aluminum block that comes with Rec port heads.

The L76 that came in the Caprice PPV and G8 GT is an aluminum 6.0 with rec port heads and probably the most affordable option but those seem to be a little thinner on the ground at least around me.

Awesome. Thanks. 

Ooo, do you have a build thread? Love me some prerunner shenanigans.

In reply to thatsnowinnebago (Forum Supporter) :

I think I started on years ago. Ill see if I can find it and add to it. If not, I'll start another. Might do some YouTube stuff too. Hmm 

In reply to Carbon (Forum Supporter) :

Putting lightest and cheapest together doesn't work really well. Lightest would be one of the aluminum block engines and adding cheapest puts you into a 5.3 variant of the gen 4 motors. You'll run into prices that are all over the map. I bought a complete LM4 (gen 3) for $300, but I've seen similar ones for $12-1500, too. The only advantage you get over the iron blocks will be the weight saving. My LM4 weighs just under 400 lb. Of course, your idea of cheap and my idea could be considerably different, too. Gen 4 motors have more aluminum versions than Gen 3 and are becoming more plentiful. Just keep looking and you should be able to find one in short order.

Edit: Also be aware of which engines are displacement on demand and decide if you want to retain or eliminate it.

Cheapest is very relative, by cheapest, I mean that I don't need an ls7 because as I said it's already going to make too much power (which makes me happy). I would definitely eliminate dod. I'd also definitely go l33 if it weren't for the cathedral ports. 

Then there are two ways to proceed.....get a gen4 engine and change to a non-DoD cam.......or find some gen4 heads to throw on a gen3 block.....your choice of iron or aluminum and 5.3 or 6.0. Around here (Michigan) I see more gen3 aluminum blocks, but the gen4 is starting to appear more frequently, although at a premium. Pick your poison.

Example: An l33 offered for $1260.....Marketplace - ALUMINUM BLOCK ls swap | Facebook

There are scads of 6.2 Escalades out there.

All 6.2s are aluminum block.

I can't think of a cheaper place to get a rectangular port headed engine.

In reply to Carbon (Forum Supporter) :

What adapter are you running to the R series transmission?  I've been kicking around the idea of finding a low buck 4.8 and putting it in my '94.

Its for an ax15, hoping itll work. Bought second hand. If it all goes sideways, I have a machine shop and a welder. 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

There are scads of 6.2 Escalades out there.

All 6.2s are aluminum block.

 

I can't think of a cheaper place to get a rectangular port headed engine.

Plus that extra .9l gets me way more of that power I dont need! Wohoo! This whole plan is kinda stupid but I bet it'll be fun. 

I use Gen 3 engines mostly because they are much easier to find for a reasonable price and I have modest power requirements. Are you certain they don't make that intake for cathedral port heads as well? 

I found my L33 for $300 using car-part.com (sometimes junkyards don't know what they have). You can go find a VIN from copart using the date range/chassis search function, then drop that into the car-part search box to find a specific engine. 

Truck engines are always a good bet for availabilty and price, but the more recent Gen 4 stuff had DoD and AFM which you may want to delete. I think the police Caprice engine is probably your best bet if you can find one.

RacetruckRon said:

LY6 Iron block 6.0 is probably the cheapest option.

L92/L94 out of a Yukon Denali or Escalade is probably the easiest to find aluminum block that comes with Rec port heads.

The L76 that came in the Caprice PPV and G8 GT is an aluminum 6.0 with rec port heads and probably the most affordable option but those seem to be a little thinner on the ground at least around me.

Snagged a low mile L76 short block to backdate to LS2 for 1400 for Caddy.  Love it.  Ported and polished 243 with 0.040 head gaskets gets you 12:1.

The chain of PnP yards I used to "shop" at had flat pricing for all engines. It was 300$ for anything from a burned up Honda with a 4 to a rolled over Ford with a 6.9. I know that's not the norm but I'm sure there are other similar places around the country.

buzzboy said:

The chain of PnP yards I used to "shop" at had flat pricing for all engines. It was 300$ for anything from a burned up Honda with a 4 to a rolled over Ford with a 6.9. I know that's not the norm but I'm sure there are other similar places around the country.

My local P-n-Ps are sort of like that, except they'll have different flat rates for  4, 6, or 8 cylinder engines. Any 8 cylinder was $199 plus a $40 core charge last time I looked.

Some of them here just pull out the gm v8's and sell them separately for more.

A good source for rectangular port heads is vans.  For some reason (after a certain year) they nearly all got rec ports.

Aluminum block... you're either looking at a car or one of the hen's teeth aluminum truck blocks.  Either one is pretty expensive.

P.S.... the rust in that LM7 isn't that bad.  Nothing a 30-over wouldn't cure I should think, but hard to tell without personal inspection.

Weight difference between iron and aluminum blocks is about 100 lbs depending on the casting.

Looks like time to call around to the local yards.